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List of people from Providence, Rhode Island
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The following list includes notable people who were born or have lived in Providence, Rhode Island.
Arts, literature, humanities and entertainment
- Tom Adams, illustrator most famous for his Agatha Christie paperback cover designs[1]
- Daniel Adel, painter and illustrator
- Chester Holmes Aldrich, architect and director of American Academy in Rome
- David Aldrich, artist and architect[2]
- Mathuren Arthur Andrieu, painter
- Omar Bah, journalist and founder of the Refugee Dream Center
- Mildred Barker, Shaker eldress, musician, and scholar who lived at the Alfred and Sabbathday Lake Shaker communities
- Joe Bastardi, meteorologist
- Joe Beats, hip-hop producer
- Alice D. Engley Beek, watercolor painter
- Ted Berrigan, poet
- Blu Cantrell, singer of 2001 hit "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops)"
- William Carpenter, early settler of Providence
- Marilyn Chambers (1952–2009), adult-film actress
- Damien Chazelle, director and screenwriter, Whiplash and La La Land
- Nicole Chesney, artist[3]
- George M. Cohan, songwriter and entertainer, composed "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "You're a Grand Old Flag"
- Bill Conti, composer of music for film and television, including theme from Rocky
- Scott Corbett, writer of children's books
- Michael Corrente, film director and producer
- Pauly D, television personality, noted for contributions to the MTV program Jersey Shore.
- Charlotte F. Dailey, editor and exposition official
- Christopher Denise, illustrator of children's books, including many in the Redwall series
- Bruce DeSilva, author of the Liam Mulligan series of mystery novels
- Paul Di Filippo, author of Steampunk Trilogy
- Nate DiMeo, podcaster, screenwriter, and author. Creator of The Memory Palace podcast and author of the book of the same name.
- Ronald Dworkin, author, professor of constitutional law
- John Dwyer, multi-instrumentalist, primary songwriter and core member of Thee Oh Sees, visual artist, record label owner
- C. M. Eddy, Jr., author of mysteries and horror fiction
- Nelson Eddy, singer and film actor
- Susan Eisenberg, voice actress
- Jeanpaul Ferro, poet, short fiction author, novelist
- Elisabeth Filarski, footwear designer, Survivor: The Australian Outback contestant
- Sage Francis, hip hop artist and slam poet
- Margaret Burnham Geddes, architect, activist, and urban planner
- Al Gomes, record producer and songwriter
- Roger A. Graham, lyricist, songwriter
- Robert Leo (Bobby) Hackett, jazz musician (trumpet, cornet, guitar)
- Scott Haltzman, author, The Secrets of Happily Married Men: Eight Ways to Win Your Wife's Heart Forever
- Scott Hamilton, tenor saxophonist
- Clay Hart, country musician (guitar)
- Richard Hatch, winner of Survivor: Borneo
- David Hedison, actor, star of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
- Greta Hodgkinson, ballet dancer
- Ruth Hussey, actress, Oscar-nominated for The Philadelphia Story (1940)
- Joe S. Jackson, sportswriter and editor
- Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones (1868–1933), pioneering black soprano who played to audiences around the world[4]
- Claudia Jordan, actress, Miss Rhode Island USA 1997
- Galway Kinnell, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet
- Jesse Leach, vocalist and musician, original frontman of Killswitch Engage, Seemless, The Empire Shall Fall and Times of Grace
- James Sullivan Lincoln (1811–1888), "Father of Rhode Island Art" and first president of the Providence Art Club[5]
- H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937), author of fantasy and horror fiction[6]
- Dorothy Lovett, actress
- Albert Lythgoe (1868–1934), archaeologist and curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art[7]
- Dodge MacKnight, painter
- George Macready, actor, Gilda, Paths of Glory
- Jason Marsden, voice actor
- Cormac McCarthy, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, The Road, No Country for Old Men, Blood Meridian
- Shanna Moakler, 1992 Miss Rhode Island Teen USA, 1995 Miss New York USA and Miss USA
- Nico Muhly, composer
- Andy On, Chinese-American Hong Kong actor
- Jeffrey Osborne, lead vocalist with L.T.D.
- Monty Oum (1981–2015), animator for Rooster Teeth Productions; creator of RWBY
- John Pagano, R&B and pop singer
- Vincent Pagano, actor, screenwriter
- Don Pardo (1918–2014), NBC announcer since 1944, Saturday Night Live 1975–2014
- S. J. Perelman, humorist, author, and screenwriter
- Sylvia Poggioli, reporter for National Public Radio
- Ira Rakatansky (1919–2014), modernist architect
- Josh Schwartz, creator of television series The O.C.
- A. O. Scott, film critic for New York Times
- Chris Sparling, screenwriter and film director
- Daniel Sully, stage actor and playwright
- Benjamin C. Truman, war correspondent and author
- Meredith Vieira, television personality
- Sarah Helen Whitman, poet, possible inspiration for Edgar Allan Poe poems "To Helen" and "Annabel Lee"
- Mabel May Woodward (1877–1945), prominent impressionist painter and RISD faculty[8]
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Business
- Arunah Shepherdson Abell, publisher and philanthropist
- Everett M. "Busy" Arnold, comic-book entrepreneur and publisher[9]
- Betsey Metcalf Baker (1786–1867; née Betsey Metcalf) manufacturer of straw bonnets, entrepreneur, social activist
- Andrew Dexter Jr., financier of Exchange Coffee House
- Wylie Dufresne, chef
- Alan Shawn Feinstein, finance expert and philanthropist; Feinstein High School in Providence is named in his honor[10]
- A. O. Granger (1846–1914), industrialist and soldier[11][12]
- William Hamlin (1772–1869), entrepreneur and Rhode Island's first engraver[13][14]
- Abbie E. Krebs-Wilkins (1842–1924), businesswoman[15]
- Henry J. Steere, industrialist and philanthropist[16]
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Innovators
- Zachariah Allen, scientist and inventor, patented automatic cut-off valve for steam engines[17]
- George Henry Corliss, inventor of the Corliss steam engine, which revolutionized industry by making steam-power cheaper than water-power for powering factories[18]
- Andries van Dam, pioneer in the field of computer graphics and professor at Brown University
Military
- George K. Anderson, general
- George Andrews, Adjutant General of the U.S. Army from 1912 to 1914
- Israel Angell, colonel in the American Revolution[19]
- Richard Arnold, Civil War general
- William Seaman Bainbridge, military physician, surgeon and gynecologist
- Samuel T. Cushing, US Army brigadier general[20]
- Charles L. Hodges, U.S. Army major general[21]
- Albert Martin, defender of the Alamo
- Frank Wheaton, Civil War general
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Politics and Law
- Arunah Shepherdson Abell, creator of Philadelphia Public Ledger and Baltimore Sun newspapers[19]
- Nelson W. Aldrich, U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, grandfather of Vice President Nelson Rockefeller and father of Richard S. Aldrich[22]
- Richard S. Aldrich, U.S. Representative[23]
- Philip Allen, 22nd Governor of Rhode Island and U.S. Senator[24]
- William Henry Allen, naval officer during War of 1812[19]
- Zachariah Allen, scientist and inventor[19]
- Jonathan Arnold, member of Continental Congress from Rhode Island[19]
- Samuel G. Arnold, United States Senator from Rhode Island[19]
- Edward Beard, U.S. Representative[25]
- Grace Lee Boggs, social activist and feminist, known for work done in Detroit
- Jabez Bowen, federalist supporter, Deputy Governor of Rhode Island and Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court[26]
- John Brown, co-founder of Brown University, U.S. Representative[27]
- Frank Caprio (1936-2025), Chief Judge of Providence Municipal Court (1985-2023); known for conducting actual court hearings on his television program, "Caught In Providence," where he routinely exercised kindness and empathy to litigants[28]
- John Chafee, Governor of Rhode Island, Secretary of the Navy, and United States Senator[29]
- Zechariah Chafee, lawyer, academic and civil libertarian[30]
- Vincent Cianci, longest-serving mayor in Providence history (1974–1984) and (1991–2002); city's first Italian-American mayor[31]
- Thomas Davis, U.S. Representative[32]
- Herbert F. DeSimone, Attorney General of Rhode Island and Assistant Secretary of Transportation[33]
- Ray Fogarty, Rhode Island state representative[34]
- Dwight Foster, U.S. Senator and U.S. Representative[35]
- Theodore Foster, U.S. Senator[36]
- J. Joseph Garrahy, 69th Governor of Rhode Island
- Albert C. Greene, U.S. Senator and Attorney General of Rhode Island[37]
- John Patrick Hartigan, Judge of United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and of United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island[38]
- Nicole Love Hendrickson, chair of the Gwinnett County, Georgia Board of Commissioners[39]
- Stephen Hopkins, nine-time Governor of Rhode Island and signer of Declaration of Independence[40]
- David Jagolinzer, American litigation attorney, born in Providence.
- Elisha Jenkins, New York Secretary of State, Mayor of Albany
- Pat LaMarche, Green Party vice presidential candidate in 2004 and activist[41]
- Oscar Lapham, U.S. Congressman[42]
- Henry Lippitt (1818–1891), textile magnate, governor of Rhode Island, his Victorian mansion is one of the finest in Providence[43]
- Audri Mukhopadhyay, Canadian diplomat
- Dee Dee Myers, first female White House Press Secretary, served during Clinton administration
- John O. Pastore, Democratic politician, first Italian-American governor (1945–1950) and Italian-American senator (1950–1976) of Rhode Island[44]
- John Rucho, Massachusetts state legislator and businessman, was born in Providence[45]
- Pamela Sawyer, member of Connecticut House of Representatives[46]
- Bruce Sundlun, 71st Governor of Rhode Island and businessman
- Robert Tiernan, U.S. Representative and member of Rhode Island General Assembly[47]
- Pat Toomey, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania
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Reformers
- Paulina Kellogg Wright Davis (1813–1876), abolitionist, suffragist, and educator[48]
- Arthur L. Hardge (1927–1983), African American civil rights activist, minister, and administrator[49]
- Bertha G. Higgins (1872–1944), African American suffragist, civil rights activist and clubwoman[50]
- Mary E. Jackson (1867–1923), African-American female suffrage activist, YWCA leader and writer, born in Providence and active in RI politics[51]
- Marion Simon Misch (1869–1941), activist, teacher, writer, businesswoman[52]
- Elizabeth J. Smith (1842–unknown), Canadian-American temperance activist; newspaper editor and publisher[53]
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Science and medicine
- Martha H. Mowry (1818–1899), first woman physician in Rhode Island
Sports
- Bill Almon, player for eight MLB teams[54]
- Deon Anderson, NFL fullback[55]
- Isaac Angking, soccer player[56]
- Rocco Baldelli, MLB outfielder[57]
- Marvin Barnes, NBA player[58]
- Will Blackmon, NFL cornerback[59]
- Paul Briggs, NFL player[60]
- Nico Colaluca, soccer player[61]
- Jill Craybas, professional tennis player
- Ernie DiGregorio, NBA rookie of the year in 1974[62]
- William Butler Duncan II, leader in New York Yacht Club's long defense of the America's Cup
- Hobe Ferris, second baseman for the Boston Americans[63]
- Beverly Baker Fleitz, tennis player, 1955 Wimbledon singles and doubles finalist, French Open doubles champion
- Anita Foss, All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player[64]
- Harold Gomes, boxer
- Matt Hyson, pro wrestler, better known as Spike Dudley
- Chris Ianetta, MLB catcher[65]
- Ray Jarvis, MLB pitcher[66]
- Marilyn Jones, All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player[67]
- Paul Konerko, MLB first baseman[68]
- Davey Lopes, player, coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers[69]
- Tom Lovett, MLB pitcher[70]
- Peter Manfredo Jr., boxer[71]
- Bill Osmanski, College Football Hall of Fame[72]
- Chuck Palumbo, pro wrestler[73]
- Michael Parkhurst, soccer defender for USMNT[74]
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Others
- Edward Francis Anhalt, professor, event promoter, and company founder[75]
- James E. FitzGerald (1906–1969) Jesuit and academic, fourth president of Fairfield University in Connecticut[76]
- Stephen Morin, Serial killer executed in Texas in 1985
References
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